This invention relates generally to electric cigar lighter devices, and more particularly to lighters of the type incorporated in automobiles or other vehicles wherein small lamp fixtures are associated with the lighters in order to provide illumination of the interior of the socket for facilitating replacement of the ignitor plug under conditions of darkness, etc.
In the past, a number of arrangements have been proposed and produced for providing illumination for the sockets of cigar lighter devices of the type noted above. Over the years, numerous refinements to the basic cigar lighter structure have been devised, both from the standpoint of improved reliability, and economy of manufacture and assembly. Typically, such units incorporate an ignitor plug removably carried in a bezel-provided cylindrical well or socket member which was adapted to be inserted in an aperture in the dashboard or other panel of the automobile. The socket member had a threaded portion at its inner end which was adapted to be secured to a cylindrical one-piece threaded clamping shell. The socket member was generally installed from the front, and the clamping shell screwed on from the rear, such that the front edge of the shell tightly engaged the rear surface of the dashboard.
With the advent of newer model automobiles, provision has frequently been made for illuminating the interior of the socket of the lighter, in order to facilitate the replacement of the ignitor plug under dark conditions. Such an improvement was considered desirable, since following use the plug was usually still fairly hot and difficulty could be experienced in locating the socket whereby there existed the possibility of personnel in the passenger compartment being inadvertently burned, clothing catching fire, etc.
In practically all prior arrangements, the bulb was disposed in a small sheet metal housing carrying a removable electrical fixture for the bulb. The bulb housing usually had small tabs which fitted into slots in the clamping shell, and one or more openings were provided in the latter adjacent the filament of the bulb, in order to admit light to the interior of the shell.
Most of the cigar lighter sockets produced in the past 10 years or so have included stamped out spring fingers and ventilating holes of one type or another, the spring fingers being associated with the replacement of the plug in the socket when the lighter was not being used. The ventilating holes prevented excessive heat from damaging the various parts of the lighter, particularly under conditions of prolonged use, and during hot weather, etc. Generally the lignt entering through the holes in the clamping shell could also pass through apertures in the socket wall if there was proper alignment or registration between them. However, such registration did not always occur, and the burden was placed on the installer to insure that the relative positions of the socket and its openings on the one hand, and the holes in the clamping shell on the other hand, were sufficiently aligned to permit adequate light from the lamp to impinge on the inner wall of the socket and thus provide the desired illumination. Such restrictions have caused problems in the past, since oftentimes, the position at which one-piece clamping shells reached the proper tightness with respect to their sockets did not result in proper alignment of the light-admitting holes. This necessitated repositioning of the socket in some circumstances, or re-installation of the various parts in order to reach a compromise between proper torque and the required registration between the openings in the socket wall and clamping shell.